


try, try, try to understand

by blackwell



Category: Black Widow (Comics), Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Betrayal, Female Friendship, Friendship, Gen, Heavy Angst, Minor Canonical Character(s), Murder, Murder-Suicide, Red Room, Spy Natasha Romanov, Suicide, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-03
Updated: 2014-12-03
Packaged: 2018-02-28 00:32:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2712422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackwell/pseuds/blackwell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the prompt: "Battle Royale is a movie/manga/book about a distopian future where once a year a class of ninth graders are brought to a isolated area where they are forced to kill each other until only one is left.</p>
<p>Some try to rebel, some try to avoid, some try to rally, and a few play to win.</p>
<p>The class of young women training to be the Black Widow had no idea what their final exam was going to be, but they weren't expecting it to be a battle to the death.</p>
<p>They weren't expecting to wake up in the forest (or wherever) with collars around their necks and the threat that if someone doesn't die every 24 hours they all will. </p>
<p>Who plays? Who rebels? Who rallies? And who avoids?</p>
<p>It's all up to you, make it as dark as you want."</p>
            </blockquote>





	try, try, try to understand

**Author's Note:**

> Featuring several minor characters, repurposed because I was intimidated by the prospect of working with a cast of OCs.

The van is in the middle of nowhere.

Natalia Romanova (Black Widow Candidate #19) has to crane her neck to see out the window, and even then Sasha Roerich (Black Widow Candidate #18)’s head blocks her view half the time. Still, she knows that it’s been an hour—at least—since they last saw any sign of civilization, and she’s starting to get worried.

If she tilts her head just so, and squints, she can see a building just ahead. It’s strangely placed, not seeming to belong out here in the wilderness. Natalia frowns.

A moment later, the van pulls to a stop, and the door swings open.

~

Sasha Roerich starts to cry when they tell them what their orders are.

Laynia Petrovna (Black Widow Candidate #16), who loves Sasha like a sister, puts an arm around her shoulders. Natalia Romanova looks over her shoulder at the two of them and hears the man’s words— _kill or be killed_ —resounding in her head.

Somehow, she doesn’t think that’s going to work out well for Laynia and Sasha. Laynia is a great fighter—they call her Tyomnaya Zvezda, the Great Beast—but Sasha is young. She’s the youngest of all of them, and she’ll die quickly.

~

At first, Natalia Romanova is confident that she will win.

It’s when she finds the first dead body that she starts to think it may not be so easy.

Yelena Belova (Black Widow Candidate #2) is lying on the ground, face down, with mud caking in her blonde hair.

This should be a relief. If any of the girls in the Red Room ever had a right to call herself Natalia’s equal, it was Yelena. 

All Natalia can think, though, is that if Yelena can die, she can too.

She starts to run, and she hears footsteps chasing her.

~

Laynia Petrovna knows that if she and Sasha Roerich are going to survive this, they have to take out the leaders—the girls who aren’t going to think twice about taking _them_ out when the time comes.

Yelena Belova is surprisingly easy to kill.

Natalia Romanova gives her the slip, though, and the next time Laynia sees her, she’s in the company of Melina Vostokoff (Black Widow Candidate #23). 

The two were always friends, though Laynia had always suspected that Melina was jealous of the other girl, the girl whom everyone knew was the more talented fighter.

~

Natalia Romanova and Melina Vostokoff have collars around their necks that say they’re going to play the game, so they play the game.

Melina is the honeypot.

Natalia will never forget how convincing she looks when she walks up to Tania Belinskaya (Black Widow Candidate #1) with her hands in the air, shaking like a leaf. Her expression is of pure, unadulterated fear. It does not waver as Natalia steps out from behind a tree and winds her arm around Tania’s neck. Even when Tania’s body hits the ground, she still looks like the scared little girl she isn’t.

~

Two days after she kills Yelena Belova, Laynia Petrovna goes back to bury her body.

It’s cold out, but not so cold that the corpse hasn’t started to rot.

She takes a stick and digs a shallow grave in the earth. It takes a long time, and she knows she’s being stupid—Natalia Romanova and Melina Vostokoff are still out there. They killed Tania Belinskaya the other day, and she’s pretty sure they got Irina Tarasova (Black Widow Candidate #21) as well.

If Sasha Roerich dies because of this, Laynia will never forgive herself. She doesn’t regret her choice, though—not when she finally rolls Yelena’s body into the ground and throws the first handful of dirt over her puffed-up face.

~

Oksana Sytsevich (Black Widow Candidate #20) is the last of the girls that Natalia Romanova and Melina Vostokoff kill. It’s the same plan as all the others—Melina lures them in and Natalia delivers the killing blow.

When Oksana’s body hits the ground, though, Melina asks, “Who’s left?”

“I’m not sure.”

Their numbers are dwindling. Laynia Petrovna and Sasha Roerich are still out there—of this much, Natalia is sure—but most of the others are dead.

~

The dirt over Yelena Belova’s body is insufficient protection. Illyana Rasputina (Black Widow Candidate #17) knows it for a grave the second she sees it.

She kneels down and places her hand on the soft earth. She has seen a lot of dead bodies in the last few days, but this is the first gravesite.

Laynia Petrovna is crouched in the branches of a tree above her head. She has already considered, and dismissed, the possibility of killing her. Illyana and Sasha Roerich are two of a kind, after all.

When Laynia and Sasha leave the clearing where Yelena is buried, Illyana leaves with them.

~

Aleksandra Nikolaevna (Black Widow Candidate #15) has a heart of steel, but once upon a time, she also had two best friends. Their names were Tania Belinskaya and Oksana Sytsevich.

She does not have two best friends anymore.

She tries to find Natalia Romanova and Melina Vostokoff. She finds Laynia Petrovna, Sasha Roerich, and Illyana Rasputina instead.

She kills them all.

Their blood is still dripping down her forearms when she fills her pockets with rocks and walks into the river. 

Her last thought as the water closes over her head is that she should have known it would end like this.

~

Natalia Romanova and Melina Vostokoff both know, or at least suspect, that they are the only ones left.

Natalia does not know how Melina feels, but for her part, she has no intention of killing her friend. Melina might be the worse fighter of the two, but Natalia would never have made it this far without her.

Thus, it comes as something of a surprise how easy it is to slide a knife between Melina’s ribs in the end. The girl has her back to Natalia when she dies.

Natalia thinks that in this, at least, the universe has been merciful.

**Author's Note:**

> My [tumblr](http://blackwellwrites.tumblr.com/), if you're interested.


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